Amsterdam with children in mid winter .

[habibihabibi]

Any lovely MN insight into where to stay with 5/6 year olds in Amsterdam . Looking for warm welcoming hotel near the child friendly sights . We will visit for 2 nights just before Christmas . Does the city have much festivities ? What shouldn't we miss ?

Have a look at this website for various kinds of info. There's a link for visiting with kids too.

www.iamsterdam.com/en/visiting

Not festivities but don't miss Nemo - the kids science museum, www.nemosciencemuseum.nl it is truely fantastic and we made return visits with at the kids insistence (aged 4 - 10) . Look at getting a museumkaart (about 60 euros for adults/ 30 for kids, they last a month and give free entry to all the museums etc (as single entry for the kids to Nemo is about 15 euros you only need two visits to pay for it. It also gives entry to the VanGogh museum, Reiksmuseum , Anne Frank house and many others. A surprize gem we found (that we wouldn't have thought of going to if it hadn't been 'free' with the card) was the Micropia museum of microscopic things which the kids LOVED!! www.museumkaart.nl/ has a list of the hundreds of places you can visit with it (lasts a month for visitors, or a year if you are a resident)

We loved Amsterdam and visited loads of museums - they knock our museums into a cocked hat for kids - even the British ones that are meant to be good have nothing on the Dutch ones (and the kids didn't even realise they were being cultured )